Tatsuki Kohatsu

I was born and raised in Okinawa. I hold degrees from the University of the Ryukyus and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. My research approaches geopolitics, militarism, and war through ethnography, archives, and storytelling. It foregrounds the experiences and livelihoods of people in places often considered marginal, such as islands, seas, and borders. My current work focuses on Okinawa in the Pacific Ocean, where the large military presence shapes the everyday landscapes and experiences. My publications include examinations of how geopolitics and militarization across the ocean depend on islands, and of the negative impacts of these geopolitical maneuvers on communities' well-being, livelihoods, and environment.

Central to my work is the critical and decolonial scholarship to unravel the conditions of life under militarization and the impacts of militarism and war, alongside community members whose thought and praxis bring into question the coloniality of making and understanding global politics and place. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oulu, I am a member of a project in the Geography Research Unit that examines militarization and bordering through the lens of Indigeneity, with a focus on Sápmi and Okinawa.